Unit stream power，minimum energy dissipation rate，and river engineering

Chih Ted Yang

（Civil and Environmental Engineering Department，Colorado State University，Fort Collins，Colorado 80523-1372，USA）

Unit stream power is the most important and dominant parameter for the determination of transport rate of sand，gravel，and hyper-concentrated sediment with wash load.Minimum energy dissipation rate theory，or its simplified minimum unit stream power and minimum stream power theories，can provide engineers the needed theoretical basis for river morphology and river engineering studies.The Generalized Sediment Transport model for Alluvial River Simulation computer mode series have been developed based on the above theories.The computer model series have been successfully applied in many countries.Examples will be used to illustrate the applications of the computer models to solving a wide range of river morphology and river engineering problems.

computer model；minimum energy dissipation rate；river engineering；river morphology；sediment transport；unit stream power